Hi,

My dog - Jack a 13 3/4 year old black Staffordshire Bull Terrier x Labrador Retriever has started whining all the time. It began about a week or so ago and sometimes it a low moan, or whine and other times he starts howling and screaming. He has also begun to poo and wee in his bed.

Jack is crated in the sitting room- he has a plastic dog basket lined with lots of newspaper inside his large crate. We have to use newspaper as in the past he has destroyed and pooed and/or weed on his blankets and furry baskets - it just costs too much to keep replacing these.

As I've just mentioned Jack has done this before - the whining, screaming and messing in his bed, but it has always thankfully spontaneously cleared up. The whining is terrible now - he does it all day long. I can take him out into the garden for the toilet and give him a bit of dinner and water, but as soon as he goes back to bed, the whining starts again. Nothing will stop it. He hasn't got diarrhoea or blood etc in his faeces - normal dry poop. He will just get up and poo or wee in his crate, right in front of us.

Jack is a rescue dog who came to us nearly 7 years ago with massive health and behaviour problems. We have put up with his problems because we believe we took him on so he's our responsibility (must have spent well over £1000 on his vets bills and special diet). But this problem is getting to be a bit too much. My family are going mad about this as they are really losing their patience. Sadly, either Jack stops messing his bed or we have to get rid of him.

He is a very stubborn dog - I have worked on his basic training since we rehomed him and he knows all his commands and boundaries, but most of the time he will completely ignore everything (unless food is involved). My family have always had German Sheperds and Rough Collies, so a stubborn disobedient dog is very challenging! Anyway, Jack has always stolen (and eaten!) food, tissues, plastic bags, food wrappers, raided bins etc - even if you just leave the room for a a few seconds. Also a few months ago he began scratching and chewing the sofa. So we got him a crate which he loved and prefered sleeping in all day to spending any time with us, which we thought was OK because he is getting old - he doesn't play or ask for attention anymore. The crate also helped to prevent him from destroying or stealing when we were out.

It all worked very well until he started pooing and weeing in the house and inside his crate about 6 months ago. He had always previously asked to go to toilet - moaning, looking at you and then looking at the door, and going to the door etc; but this all stopped and he just began to mess whenever and wherever - usually right in front of us. I made a big effort to take him outside to toilet 4 times a day - on waking, at lunch, tea-time and bed-time, aswell as giving him a little breakfast and lunch as well his main night-time dinner. I also monitored his water intake by removing the bowl and adding his water to his dry feeds. In about a month everything had thankfully cleared up. We have still kept to his toileting and feeding routine, which is why we don't understand why he has begun to mess and whine again...?

Also, when he messes I wash and scrub his basket and crate out, put in new paper, and then a few hours later he will mess it all up again. I usually catch him doing it and tell him off, then take him straight outside to the toilet, clean his bed and then put him back in his crate (my family will go absolutely mad if he messes the carpets as it's a rented house).

Jack has always had really bad doggy odour and sheds hair and skin constantly - he's always had severe eczema, which isn't too great when he sleeps in the sitting room! Is all this messing because he want's his own horrible smell around him i.e. I clean his bed so he as to poo/wee in it to get his smell back? (!)

Please, can someone please give me a pointer on how to stop this behaviour. We really can't put up with the messing anymore, as he has done this before and I have run out of ideas on how to train it out of him. I've thought about a kennel outside but he's just too old and frail to cope with the cold. ...HELP!?

What kind of rescue was it, was he abused or ignored. It kinda sounds like "Jack" has an issue where he feels that he is in charge, or it could be that he is getting old and can't feel that he needs to go outside, i've found with ageing dogs, (had a couple despite my age) you need to treat them like a puppy and catch them before they poo or pee in their crate(which i don't like but to each his own) the reason i don't think he realizes he needs to go is that dog's don't mess up where they sleep, unless it's accidental... try taking him out(figure out his schedule and run a few minutes ahead of him(10 or so). with the other behavioral problems i would need to know what he had in his past, if he's been a good boy in years past with you it could be that he's going senile and doesn't realize that he is in a good place, he forgets that he's not in the other place and reverts into his protective shell.

hope it helps
Greg

im not dog expert but I guess it's something relative with the turn of life, something like human's menopause. animals probably have much changes during the times on emotion or living habit. as you said he has been getting old. if he did not have illness I suggest you solving the problem in this way:-D

Has your dog been tested for diabetes, excessive urine is one of the signs, my pet is diabetic.

Dogs suffer from many of the same age-related ailments as people, incontinence, kidney disease, hearing and vision loss, even dementia. I would see your vet.